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If sugar and spice make everything nice then this makes it real good. Ay caramba! I love to cut a sweet and tangy margarita with some fresh jalapeños.

Put some chopped jalapeños in a glass with lime juice and margarita salt.

Muddle it all together.

I used a tall shot glass and used:

1 part tequila

4 parts margarita mix

1 part cold water

lime juice

Put it into a handheld shaker and add some more chopped jalapeños with the seeds and some more margarita salt with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a glass 3/4 full of ice. I had some chopped jalapeños already in there and topped with some more margarita salt instead of on the rim. That way I’m sure to get some salt without it slipping down the glass.

Wait, I’m going in for seconds…..

Okay I’m back now after I found feeling back in my lips again after all those jalapeños. Please let me know if you’ve ever tried this, if you’ve made this, if you hate it, love it, think I’m crazy, whatever!

Some like blue cheese stuffed olives but I happened to have these olives stuffed with jalapeños and since I love all things spicy, this was a no-brainer. Pour the mixture into a cocktail shaker 3/4 way filled with ice and as Taylor Swift sings, Shake It Up! Pour it through the strainer into a martini glass with the olives already inside. You can use a toothpick to fish the olives out. This makes about 1 1/2 martini glasses. By the way, I used a tall shot glass to measure the parts. You can use a measuring cup that has fluid ounces but I kind of just eyeball it. That’s why I gave you the recipe in “parts” instead of specific metrics.

It was so yummy that I made another batch but who are we kidding, I still made dinner while half toasty! After all, I am the MAD Goddess and I suppose that the husband and kids were still expecting dinner. Ugh

So I’ve been listening to my friends or should I say my one friend that has been reading my blog and I hear you. You don’t have enough time to make dinner or spend all day in the kitchen. I thought I had simplified my recipes enough but I guess they may still be too time-consuming for those of you who don’t get home until late and still have to make dinner for your families. Let’s face it, we’re all in a hurry to get somewhere or do something these days. Trust me, I don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen either. I try to plan my meals, grocery shop for my ingredients and then prep my veggies for the week. I learned that from experience and from watching Rachel Ray’s “30 Minute Meals”, whom I think is totally adorable but her recipes taste like crap every time I try to make them. Her recipes are TOO simplified if that is possible and don’t have the depth of flavor I’m after but I hear you, you want it quick and easy too.

I too have a family and a life so I don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen but if I’m going to put something in my mouth and feed my family also, I want it to taste good and be semi-healthy. This is what I made after I made myself the happy cocktails. Peanut noodles with sautéed shrimp. I’m not sure if it can get much simpler than this. I didn’t even add any veggies like I normally do.

Pour the coconut oil in a medium low heated pan. Add the minced garlic for about 30 seconds and then add the shrimp in and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until the shrimp is completely white and pink. While the shrimp is still cooking sprinkle with salt and fresh ground black pepper and a dash of Vietnamese fish sauce (this is totally optional as I realize not everyone is going to have Vietnamese fish sauce on hand like I do). When finished cooking set aside. Save the scallions for later when you add in the noodles.

I cooked the 2 packages of peanut noodles (that I bought at the grocery store & have also found at Trader Joe’s) in the microwave according to the instructions. Then in a medium high heat sauce pan, added back in the shrimp and the green scallions. Sautéed them together for a minute before I added the peanut noodles until everything has been thoroughly combined (about 1-2 minutes) and voila, dinner is done! I sprinkled the peanuts that came with the noodles and squeezed some lime juice on top and that was dinner. Of course I always add some Sriracha hot sauce but that’s a given.

Tips: To make a more complete Pad Thai dish you can crack and egg and mix it right into the noodle mixture over the stove. The egg will cook while it’s in the hot pan and will cover the noodles. This is also how fried rice is made by the way, with the same egg mixture technique. In addition, you can also add sliced chicken sautéed in a separate pan. There are pre-packaged noodle boxes made specially for Pad Thai but I wanted a more nutty peanut taste so I used the peanut noodle box instead.

If I wanted to get fancy I could’ve added some bean sprouts or sliced red bell peppers or mushrooms to the mixture but after 3 martini’s I was kinda lucky to have made it this far.